In the field #12

  Bonjour! Sorry I didn't include anything last week! The past two weeks have been good but a bit slow! We are working hard and we see miracles everyday but sometimes the Lord needs to try our patience. That is what He is doing right now I am sure of it. 

   We do have one investigator that is progressing! Her name is Celine and she is from the Ivory Coast! We taught her for the 3rd time this week and we taught about the authority of God. She understood why it would be important to have that and she said she would pray about it personally. That is music to my ears! :) she is super open and she will find the answers. We also asked her if she would be baptized. She told us that if the Lord tells her to be baptized in this church then she will! All she needs is some time to get her answers and she will realize the truthfulness of what we are teaching her! I love missionary work! :) 

   Well transfers are this week! The BIG NEWS! I will be TRAINING! I will not find out until wednesday who that will be but I will keep you posted! I am seriously so stoked! I feel very humbled to be asked to do this but I feel like the Lord has been preparing me. Also, I know that He does not call the qualified, but He qualifies the called, as president Monson taught us. 

   In my studies this week I realized how impactful Gratitude is. If you are grateful for something it helps you realize how good life really is. I was studying Jesus' life in the New Testament and so many times there were people rejecting Him and bad things were happening but the first thing Jesus would do...He would turn to God in prayer and give thanks. I think that is a wonderful lesson to learn. And when He had to feed the thousands with just a bit of fish and bread... He absolutely could have been discouraged and doubtful..but No. He turned to God in prayer and gave thanks for what they had AND THEN they saw the miracle. I know that as we are more grateful we truly will see more miracles! I love the scriptures and I know they are true! I know that all the answers we are seeking can be found in the scriptures, even if sometimes we don't know that we are seeking for those answers. 

   I love you all! Bonne semaine! 

Love Soeur Finneran    BISOUX 

In the field#11

Bonjour a tous! Well this week was crazy but incredible! we have seen lots of miracles! I will start with those! After district meeting, the elders and us had a train layover for 1.5 hours so we decided to have a little scavenger hunt. Some of the things consisted of having a lesson, 2 phone numbers, picture of a cathedral, etc...so we went to work! We talked to lots of people and handed out some pass along cards and then we saw a family and we both felt like we should teach them. so we literally ran after them and chase them across the street. haha we normally dont do that so dont worry. but we talked to them and turns out that one of the daughters and met with the missionaries a few years back! So we talked with her and her mom and her sister and taught a lesson on the road and prayed with them. We set an appointment to teach again the following week but turns out that they are in another area so we passed them. but still awesome! and then we got back from the train into Arras and the first lady we talked to was great! her name is Pezi. She is a french lady and the first thing she tells us is that everyone thinks she is crazy...we are like ok...why is that?? and she says, "Because i think families will be forever. I know i will have a second life and see my husband again." We just smiled and said," Madame, you are not crazy. that is actually God's plan for us." we then continued to to teach part of the plan of salvation and prayed with her in the road right there. it was incredible! we will teach her again in september when she gets back from vacations. And another miracle! Soeur covington and I couldn't figure out what we needed to do and where we needed to go one day. We both had very seperate ideas so we decided to pray to know. We then felt guided to another area that was not thought of before. We walked over to that area and met a woman named Marie-christine. She told us she use to meet with the Jehovah's witnesses but stopped because she didn't agree with everything. She strongly believes in God and Jesus Christ and wants to know more. We taught a bit about the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to start reading. And then we prayed with her in the road. When we finished the prayer we looked at her and she was crying!!! It was very powerful. We were suppose to meet with her sunday but she got sick but she wanted to talk. She had started reading the Book of Mormon and had questions for us. We ended up teaching a lesson wiht her on the phone and prayed with her and everything on the phone. She is so ready! We will see her again on wednesday! Pray for my investigators please!!! They need your prayers! :)

   The baptism was incredible! I was able to do an exchange with soeur mckay and that was great! I learned lots of great things from her! She is a wonderful missionary! And then we went to the baptism on saturday. I was more than ecstatic to see soeur thibault and even more happy to see Doris. She was glowing! When she came up out of the water she had the biggest smile on her face and literally clapped her hands with joy! The water was freezing (haha the hot water doesn't really work there) and i asked her how she felt. she said,"I am so cold but i feel so warm. I am so happy!" I literally felt joy that day! I couldn't help but cry. She is the reason I am doing what I am doing. There really is no greater joy than helping people find that path to eternal life. I know there are others out here just like her too! I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and the joy it brings! Even though being a missionary is difficult, I LOVE IT! I love you all! 

Love Soeur Finneran

In the field #10

Bonjour!!! Well I don't have a whole ton of time to write today but I would like to share two miracles that we had this week. The first is this...We received a contact from the church headquarters for a couple who had been taught missionary lessons 30 years ago. So we went...we talked to them and they told us they are no longer interested...but they were nice about it! :) And no the miracle is not that they were nice! haha the miracles is that they told us to knock all the doors on their road because there are lots of believing people. That night we didn't have the time so we started walking home and then someone drives by and stops! we approach the car and we see that it is an inactive family that we have been trying to get a hold of but couldn't! she invited us over to eat with their family the next day. We went over the next day early to go and do some contacting in her area. While we were contacting i had the impression that we needed to go and finish knocking doors on the same road we were one the night before. we get to the first door and we tell the woman that we are there to pray with her. She was shocked and let us in! We taught the entire first lesson and gave her a book of mormon! she told us she is always searching for more truth and told us she will read and pray. She is on vacations right now but we will meet with her again in august! Her name is corinne and she is incredible! She has a very strong relationship with Jesus Christ! So anways it was just a testimony to me that there is always a reason for everything! BUT you have to keep your head up and keep going! There was a quote i was reminded of this week. it is "The Lord cannot steer a parked car." Sometimes when we don't know what to do...we just have to go and then the Lord will guide us. Don't be afraid to act! Don't be afraid to open your mouth!

   The second miracle! Doris' baptism is actually on the 20th now for sure! I called the assistants and asked if i could go to Bruxelles for this...they contemplated and talked with president and they said that they decided that I can go but it is an exception just for this one time! But also that I had to pay my own way. I looked at the prices to get me and my comp there and it ended up being 170 euros... I couldn't do it. It was too much money and too much time to just spend less than a day somewhere. So I prayed that maybe i could find another way to go. 3 hours later I get a call from Soeur Anna McKay (who happens to be my Sister Training Leader) and she tells me that we will both be going to Bruxelles this weekend to do an exchange with her and her companion! I was more than ecstatic! This allows me first of all to do an exchange with Soeur Mckay, but also to go to the baptism! I am so grateful that the Lord is always so aware of us! He wants to be involved in every aspect and He will be if we let Him. I will give you more details next week on the baptism! I love you all! 

Love Soeur Finneran

In the field#9

Bonjour a tous! Well the updates in Arras! Nothing too exciting has happened this week but I do have a miracle I would like to share! So we were walking down the road and met a woman and just started talking to her. She told us we could come over. So we went over and taught a bit with just her. It was a good lesson and then she invited us to come over again to speak to her husband too! So we went over on saturday and taught the two of them and stayed for  a good 1.5 hours and just talked and got to know their backgrounds and told them why we were there (we were also with an awesome member and that helped a ton!) and then we taught a bit about the plan of salvation. Eric (the husband) had lots of questions and comments. He is from Peru and actually knows lots about the Church so that was good. Overall it was great. They even invited us over again next saturday without us asking! I know that they will be baptized someday! Someday soon I hope! They are so ready and prepared for the gospel but they really just need that confirmation. We asked them to come to church but eric told us that they like to consecrate sunday's as their family day and they spend the whole day together as a family without distractions. Please pray for them that they will soften their hearts to the idea of coming to church and also just pray for Marie and Eric in general. That they will come to a knowledge of the truth and be converted. You would seriously love them. they are so great! 

   Other than that we just did a lot of contacting and trying to find people to teach through the area book. But today was fun! We will able to go the museum in Lens with a member friend (elizabeth). part of the museum consists of things from the Louvre. And then we went to a french restaurant afterwards to eat called Le Pataterie. It was great! Well I love you all!

Love Soeur Finneran

In the field #8

 Bonjour!!! Well life is good here in Arras! Its worlds different than Bruxelles! haha its the frenchiest little french town and i love it! barely anyone speaks english. we also have all the little country towns surrounding Arras too. Just picture the most beautiful french countryside that everyone dreams about...yeah thats where I am serving. Its beautiful and everyone is really nice! The work is a little slow here so please send up some prayers for the people in Arras!  And also the ward here is incredible! they are so unified and excited to work with us! I know we will see miracles here.

   My new companion is Sister Covington! I was actually in the MTC with her. Of course the whole "language" aspect was a bit of a worry but its working out. Last week when we were on the train some french guy was talking to us about the train tickets and everything and i am so use to just letting soeur thibault just answer....but she wasn't there. and soeur covington's trainer wasn't there either. so i looked at her and she looked at me and thats when i realized...i HAVE to know what people are saying to me. So we stumbled our way through that conversation and we decided that we will only speak in french with each other. Soeur covington and i have not spoken english together. its a great blessing to have a companion who truly wants to be here and who has the same goals as me. I have seen my french even just this past week improve like crazy! Its surprised other people and it has even surprised me! I know that it is the gift of tongues and because of the Lord that i have been blessed with this.

   We haven't taught a whole lot of lessons this week. But one cool experience we had together! It was about 830 at night and i knew that we couldn't return to the house but we had literally done everything else we had planned and back up planned. we stood in the empty street for a moment and thought about what we could do...we decided that we should just go and try to find people. so miraculously this asian woman comes walking down the street! so we ran up to her and started talking. Turns out she speaks english and not french...only time that has happened haha. Soeur covington was shocked because she hadn't heard anyone speak enlgish here for the 3 months she's been here. but anyways! we started talking and she was on vacation and she lives in finland at the moment. She grew up not believing in God but she was open. She said she had tried praying a couple times and that she always felt good when she did that. We then explained the Holy Ghost, the nature of God and Jesus Christ. We taught the restoration and first vision and about the book of mormon all there on the street! we found out that she has three friends that are mormon and she has a book of mormon in chinese. We committed her to ponder about what we have said and to pray to God that night and ask if he's there. We then prayed with her on the road. It was truly incredible! IT was a 40 minute lesson too. legit. And when we left it was because we had to go, not her. she actually didn't want us to leave. Sadly she was going to Paris for the next two days but we gave her info to go to the church there. There are truly miracles everyday!

   Doris is getting bapised this friday! I am very excited for her! Sadly I will not be able to go since i am too far. She has been prepared and she is ready to be baptised thats for sure!

   Well I love you all! Do work!

Love Soeur Finneran

In the field #7

Bonjour mes amis! Well all is well here in Strombeek! This past week we had a few activities with the ward and that was nice. We went to an activity with the young men and young women and we actually had 3 non members show up so that was good! They really enjoyed themselves and got to know the people in the ward. They definitely feel more comfortable now with the people in the ward. And then we also stake conference with all the wards in beglium. It was crazy how many people were there! Its great to see how many member there truly are in Belgium! We had a few investigators show up with us and really had a good time! Doris is getting very excited for her baptism and really got along with the members from our ward! She also is making plans to move to Chicago next year. So I will be able to go visit her after the mission because she will not be too far. We also did belgium legality this week so I was able to see all the missionaries from the MTC. Its always an uplifting experience to be able to talk to those I am serving with.

Well the news is is that I will be going to Arras. Its an area in Paris Nord! My companion will be Soeur Covington who was in the MTC with me. I will keep you posted!

Love you!

Love Soeur FInneran

P.s. Congrats Ashlyn on getting married soon! Love you!

In the field#6

  BONJOUR!!! :) Comment ca va tout le monde!?  Well things are great here in Belgium! Transfers will be here next week so I might leave but more than likely I will stay here. But I can't imagine them leaving me and Soeur Thibault together. Which rips my heart out a little bit because she truly has become one of my greatest friends. But I will try not to think about being seperated from her. 

   BUT!!! DORIS IS GETTING BAPTISED!! :) The woman I wrote about last week...she has accepted to be baptised on the 6 of July! We are so excited! We taught her a few times this week and explained more about the restoration and the need for that and then we asked her to be baptised and she said yes! she told us she has been praying and waiting 3 years for us to bring her this message. She truly has been so prepared to receive the gospel. Its just such a testimony that no matter where you are in the world, the Lord is preparing people to accept His gospel. What a wonderful thing this is! :) I love Doris to pieces!  And all my other invetigators too! 

    Another story...This past two days we have not been able to get to our appointments on time. Supposedly twice a year they have these great big yard sales in the streets for like 2 days so thats what was happening. THe bus' weren't working sometimes and it was just crazy. But it ended up being perfect because evertime that happened our investigators told us that it was a good thing we were late because they wouldn't have been able to talk to us really if we would have showed up on time. The Lord knows exactly what needs to happen and He makes it happen! :) And also He places people always in our paths that we need to talk to. Yesterday when we were on a bus (finally after waiting for like 25 minutes) we walked on and stood next these two other people. The guy looks at us and is like.
"OH! Hey!!! OH hi missionaries! Hows it going!?" (in english - welcome to Belgium). He then began to tell us that he is Belge but had been in new york for the past 5 months and met with the missionaries there. He said that he loves the missionaries and is so grateful for their efforts. He said that it truly has made a difference in his life and he has been able to find God again and he is so much happier than he was before. He will be traveling lots for the next year or so but we encouraged him to continue to learn about the church and promised him blessings. And he was also with this girl from Spain. She was so awesome! She told us that at this moment she is living in belgium but really has lost her way spiritually. She even started crying a bit on the bus. We told her we would love to share our message with her and she accepted gladly and gave us her address and phone number. We are really excited to get to know her better! And then we got off the bus and parted ways and walked into the wrong direction and walked into a big group of kind of sketchy men...haha whoops but then we kept walking and this guy (in english again) stops us and says, "HEY! Where are you from!?" We told him U.S. and Canada and then he started asking us if we were there to teach him about relgiion and help him get back to church and stuff. He also asked if everybody was invited to church. we said of course and gave him the Elders phone number. :) 

  The lesson honestly that i learned really strongly I think this week is to not judge a book by its cover. There are people all around us who are in need of the gospel and who have their own struggles, but if we are judgmental we will never be able to help them. 

   I love this gospel and this work! Its not easy but it never was meant to be easy. Salvation truly doesn't come easy. It wasn't easy for Jesus Christ, and as His representative right now, I know that it will not be easy for me. But all in all, there are miracles everyday that help me to see the big picture and it truly, in the end, is all worth it. Every single second. So make it count!  :) I love you all!

Love Soeur Finneran

P.S. ALISON NIXON! If you could please give your email to my sister... I would LOVE to hear whats happening in your life! And also JEANETTE!!! Seriously gurl what are you doing!? Get out of your little BYUI bubble and send me a quick note! OK much Love! :)

In the field #5

Bonjour mes amis! Well the sun is finally shining here in Belgium! I heard from Kendal last week and she said that it was so hot in germany and i was really confused because I looked out the window and it was pouring rain here and really cold! I heard yesterday from the Finnish family in the ward that Finland is actually 20 degrees warmer than in Belgium...Its an odd place here...but I love it! :) But today I actually didn't have to wear a coat! And for that I am super grateful! :)

First things first! The work...This week has been difficult with lessons because people sometimes cancel on us or just not show up to lessons. C'est la vie. BUT we met this one woman named Emma! She is from Camaroon and a little bit older. We walking down the street and decided to talk to her. She said it was ok for us to come over the following day! So we met with just barely on Saturday and we talked about the Restoration. She thought it was very interesting and she was really open to the idea of God's true church being restored in its fullness. We left her with a pamphlet to read. So Soeur Thibault accidentally left her scarf at her appartment so the following day (yesterday) we went over to get her scarf and we thought, why not teach a little something something. So she was super happy to see us and she told she studied the entire pamphlet. She had questions for us about Adam and a few other questions that we were able to help her understand. She was happy with our answers and said she will pray more about it. We gave her a book of mormon and she said she would start reading it for the lesson that we have with her today! She also said that she will for sure come with us to church next week! :) She told us that normally she just takes the metro home but she felt instead on friday to take the trams and buses. She then told us that that is why she was able to meet us and that we were all suppose to meet each other! :) :) :) And then we asked her to give a closing prayer and in her prayer she mentioned how she knows that we knew our Father in Heaven before we were here on this earth. Guess what we are teaching tonight...? Thats right plan of salvation! HECK YES! :) We will also commit her to being baptised! We are more than thrilled to have the incredible opportunity to teach her! She is the definition of a golden investigator!

Funny story... So we were walking around finding people to talk to and these three guys come up to us and ask us for directions. They were defs italian. Its funny how you can here accents no matter what language it is. They actually all spoke english better so we talked to them for a bit. One lives in New York and actually saw the play the Book of Mormon so we talked to him a bit about that. We also gave them a mormon.org card and tell them to read the actual book because its even better than the play. haha but they actually did invite to go clubbing with them that night too...three times. We also told them more than three times that we are missionaries and we are here to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. haha but overall they were pretty nice! Sometimes i wonder why missionaries get hit on so much...We wear long skirts and modes blouses, etc...and we get hit on all the time. Everyone loves them a good missionary I guess! :) haha

Well I love you all and good luck with everything you got going on! OH and seriously...go teach with the missionaries! Hardest thing in my life is trying to convince members to come teach with us! Don't be one of the difficult members! I promise that you make such a huge contribution to missionary work! My scripture for the week. "Be still, and know that I am God." Take a moment to be still this week. You won't regret it! Bisous!

Love Soeur Finneran

In the field #4

Bonjour mes amis! So this letter will not be long just like all the other ones. My bad. haha Sorry they don't give us a lot of time! But Just to update you with Belgium...Its still really cold here! It has rained the entire week, all day every day. I still wear tights, boots and my winter coat! But I heard that is just what beligium is like! Haha but its super green here so that is a definite bonus of all the rain! :) We meet lots of new people everyday and we are continue to have lessons every day too! Here is a fun little story! So we were on the tram and we looked over and saw a woman who we for some reason had a picture of in our area book... We recognized her so we got off at the stop that she got off at... haha i know super creepy whatever! But we followed her for like 2 minutes and then we just started running for her and we yelled, "Madame we have a question for you!" haha she stopped and we ended up talking for like 40 minutes in the road. She is supposedly a member and she has been inactive for years and years. Her husband and daughters are not members but maybe someday she will let us go to her house to teach them! We ended up teaching a lesson right there in the road too and had a prayer and everything! haha in every way possible it was probably super awkward! BUT it was what needed to happen and I am glad we followed the spirit to go and talk to her. I read a quote that I wrote from one of the apostles in my scripture study this week. It said, "A true friend is someone that makes living the gospel easier." Its so important to be that good and true friend! I love you all and miss you!
Love Soeur Finneran

Pictures

In the Field #3

Bonjour tous! Well I know its crazy that I am already writing again! time flies eh!? This week has truly been incredible! On wednesday we had the opportunity to go the King's palace here in Bruxelles and see his gardens. They are literally ridiculous! SOO big! It took us like an hour and half to walk through. But also that same day was Fete de Travaille so no one works. It was especially busy that day. But it was beautiful and fun but very tiring! That night we didn't have any appointments so we went out contacting! We went to go visit an inactive and she happened to live in a pretty muslim area. She wasn't home so we decided to go contacting somewhere else. But on the way back to the metro we saw a lady and felt that we should talk to her. So we started talking to her and her friend and her friend was all like," Im leaving." and she just walked away. It was for sure awkward and I thought that the other lady was going to get mad or something but NO! She invited us to come over right then! Her name is Rachelle and she is from Camaroon and she is awesome! We went to her house and met her mom. We taught them the plan of salvation and they loved it. She invited us over the next day to teach her again! This time she brought another one of her friends who was very religious! We taught them all about the book of mormon and they all accepted one. Rachelle had read the pamphlet and prayed about it and she said she felt good so that was awesome! She said she would start reading the book of mormon. We went over the next day too and taught them a little lesson and prayed with them! She has 2 or 3 other friends that she would like to introduce to the church! She is so legit! They said they were going to come to church but...they didn't really show up..so that was actually really sad but its ok! NEXT WEEK! THey will come for sure! :) We are going to go over this week and see wazzup. And again walking around that same area we stopped and talked to another lady from the cote d'ivoire and she invited us to come over the next day. She was actually there! So we went there yesterday and taught her and her husband about half of the plan of salvation! She likes the message and he really loves Jesus so I definitely see potential there! :) We are meeting with them again next weekend! We have been just talking with so many more people and thats honestly the trick! Just talk to everyone. And try not to make it awkward... haha I am still working on that one! Well time is running out again so I must go... But I love it here! I love this work! I know that this is the Lord's work! I know that when we simply just open our mouths to share the gospel, the words we need will come. I testify that that is true! I know that Jesus Christ truly is the son of God and that He Lives. I love you all!

Love Soeur Finneran

P.S. Just a shout out to MA MERE!!!! You are the best mom in the whole world! Seriously though... I am the luckiest! Love you so much mom! Happy mother's day next week!

In the field #2

Bonjour Mes Amies!!! Well Belgium is beautiful and it grows more and more on me each day! And even better than that the people are so amazing here! They are all very kind and accommadating! We speak french almost all the time! We live in the french area so even if people can speak english they don't like to. So I am always learning more each day. And the people love to help me and they think it is very cool that I am trying to learn. So we got to meet the ward finally yesterday! It was awesome! It is half english and half french. So what they do is they have translators and you put these head phones on and you can listen to it in whatever language you are more comfortable with. Even though there is quite a large language barrier these people are still very close with each other. Its just another example that it doesn't matter where you are or what language you speak, we are all brothers and sisters in this church. And also! Noah Hartsock and his wife are in my ward! If you don't know them they are way legit. He played basketball for BYU and she played volleyball. Both of them are super good and he actually plays basketball out here in Belgium. So that was fun. They are really nice too. We had an investigator come with us to church yesterday too! Her name is Genevieve. She has been taught all the lessons basically and the elders were about to drop her but we decided to visit her and she really loved what we were saying to her. This was her first time actually coming to church. We are praying that she understands the importance of this gospel and is baptized. She is so great! We teach a lot of lessons but most this past week were to less actives. They loved visiting with us and alot came to church yesterday! We are talking to people all the time and searching for new investigators everyday. Kind of a cool story! So Soeur Thibault and I were on the metro and there were two muslims sitting across from us. (we cant teach muslims but literally there are soooooo many muslims out here so its kind of hard. and its hard too because they are always the nicest people we talk to!) but anyways so we talked to them and then they got off. Both soeur thibault and I prayed that the next person that got on would be interested (in our hearts). Sometimes its hard to muster up the courage to speak to random people but I was determined to do it! So a lady walks on with her two kids and sits right in front of us and then starts staring at my name tag and she was trying to read it. So i took that opportunity to ask her if she had ever met the missionaries for our church before (in french of course). She said now and so we started to tell her a little bit about the church and why we were in belgium, etc... SHE then asked us how to set up an appointment! we were stunned....haha that doesn't happen....so we got all her info and she asked where church was and everything so we told her all that too! Its just really so awesome how incredible the power of prayer is. She ended up being out of our boundaries so we gave her to the other sisters but miracles really are happening out here in Belgium! People have been prepared to receive the gospel right now! We just need to find them! and we will! :) I know that if we strengthen our testimonies and our wards that we will be able to find more people who are ready to receive the gospel. Someone in conference said this...but he said just as there are so many more missionaries being prepared that many more "investigators" are being prepared as well. Its true! This gospel is true and the Lord is truly gathering His sheep. I love the scriptures in John when the savior finds his apostles fishing again after Christs ressurrection. He asked," Do you love me?" "FEED MY SHEEP." Lets do just that. Together. It doesn't matter where in the world you are, your contribution matters! I testify that that is true! I know my Savior lives! I love you all!

Love Soeur Finneran

Mission Update #5

Bonjour Bonjour!!!

     This week was a great one! Well of course besides all the snow.  I literally got sun burned last tuesday and it was snowing two days after that. Gotta love Utah. But anyways... I LEAVE IN 6 DAYS!!! I can hardly believe it! It is so weird because I feel like I have been here for a very long time but also no time at all.  I feel both prepared and unprepared.  I know through the Strength of the Lord I can do all things.  I am very excited and I already have an enormous amount of love for the people of France.  I know the Lord is hastening His work in France and all around the world for a reason. 

    Well I think I will start off with a funny story! So the other day my companion and I were teaching a lesson to our "investigator" Jean-Michelle.  This was our fifth lesson with him so we felt like we should talk about some of the commandments that we are required to keep to be baptized. This lesson we were teaching The Law of Chastity. Yeah I am sure a lot of you can just imagine where this is going.  So we were discussing some of the things we must do to keep this specific commandment and I said this, "Dieu exige que nous avons les relations sexuelle avant le mariage." That translates to..."God requires that we have sexual relations before marriage." To say the least we were all shocked(well i was after I found out what i had just said). haha We all had a good laugh, so did the rest of the three zones in this building.  :) Literally it was one of those "Best Two Years" moments. Lovin it.

     Last week we had Scott D. Whiting of the seventy and his wife come speak to us at the Tuesday devotional. Oh and also! The really awesome thing that everyone kept talking about was that this general conference the place they have chosen to highlight for the documentary in between conferences is the MTC! So they had a camera crew come and film us so that they could put it on the video. So in between conferences be looking for me! I might be one there! :) But besides that...Elder Whiting and his wife did an incredible job!  I really appreciated that his wife (Jerie Whiting) prepared a talk for us.  Usually all the other wives just get up and bare testimony. The thing I loved the most that she said, "Whatever you're doing, do it with ALL conviction." So in other words, don't just give half your effort, give all your effort in all things! If you are playing basketball, play basketball! If you are singing, then sing with all conviction! Practice with all conviction! If you are serving a mission, then serve a mission with all conviction! Do all you can! If you are LDS then be LDS with ALL conviction! It is not enough to only have a testimony! You must be converted unto the Lord with all conviction.  Elder whiting addressed us on the subject of the MTC. He said he woke up the other night with two words running through his head, Incubator and Comforter. I am very glad he followed the spirit and spoke on those two things.  He said the MTC is like an incubator because right now all of us are preparing to go out into the world to preach this gospel and if we go out to early we could possibly fall apart and not survive.  He said if you are here at the MTC at the right time and worthy to be here that we will be prepared and strengthened. He also said that if we are not, the incubator will not be a benefit but instead it will be as if you put bacteria in an incubator. The bacteria will rapidly grow and overtake us.  It is soo important to make sure you are 100% worthy when you come to the MTC. He also talked about when we come to the MTC we leave behind all our normal "comforters". Such as our beds, our favorite foods, friends, family, cell phones, internet, etc... He said that this was necessary so that we learn to rely on the one and only true comforter, The Holy Ghost. He said that if we learn that here at the MTC that we will be strengthened and comforted to do the things we need to in the mission field and also in our lives after the mission. Loved it! He also said this, "If you are on the errand of the Lord and worthy to be there, and if you act on ALL promptings, the the Lord will make those acts beneficial to either you or those around you. That way you'll never have to ask yourself, 'Were those my thoughts or the Holy Ghost'". DO WORK! :)

   The last thing that I would like to talk about happened with my district.  We were told to watch a video titled, "The Atonement and missionary work". SERIOUSLY the greatest! It is a video and President Eyring and Elder Holland are talking on the little video. It is about ten minutes long but SO worth it! Go to youtube and look it up and watched it! We were asked to watch it and discuss it as a district.  We watched the whole thing and when it ended none of us could speak.  I literally could feel the spirit as if it was tangible.  I have never really been in a situation where all of us were constrained from speaking by the Spirit. We all sat there for about ten minutes straight just pondering and crying.  It really is such a powerful message.  When you have time and are in the right mind set, watch it. You will learn some absolutely incredible things.

   Well this is my last pday here at the MTC! I will not have a pday for two weeks! I will let you all know how PARIS is! :) I am soo excited and so extremely grateful that I have the opporunity to serve my Master. Bon Chance mes amies avec toutes les choses dans vos vies!! :) Je vous aime! Please pray for all the missionaries. We all need your prayers. I love you all!

Love, Soeur Finneran

mission update #4

Bonjour everyone! How are all of you!? This letter will be pretty short this week! My apologies! Time really gets away from you when you are on a mission. I have been here for exactly a month and I leave in 13 DAYS to PARIS!! :)  I am beyond excited to get out into the field and to start spreading the gospel among the French people. There is no greater work than missionary work. I have literally never been happier!  On sunday we had Sister Jean stephens (i think) from the general primary presidency come and speak to us for Relief Society. Ps that is how EVERY week in relief society is. RS in the MTC rocks! She talked to us all about LOVE. Love is SOO important! If you don't love the people you are teaching than they are far less receptive to the influence of the Holy Ghost.  Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and through LOVE that is possible. Just love everyone! And if you are struggling with loving someone, pray to God to know how He feels about them. You will love them, I promise. The work here in the MTC is great! We are all learning lots and improving little by little every day. We lost most of our zone this week but we are gaining like 40 new missionaries going to montreal tomorrow. We are excited! I love getting new missionaries in every week! It brings such an exciting spirit. The MTC just keeps getting more and more full. I can't even imagine what it will be like in here come May and June. We also were able to listen to the Director of Missionary Services for our Sunday night fireside. SO GOOD!!! He talked all about all the Rocks and stones in this gospel. He also related trials and experiences in our life to the three different ways rocks form: Igneous(very powerfully and all at once), Sedimentary (little pieces of sand that gather over time and then after pressure it is hardened and solidified), and Metamorphic (taking something old and after pressure becoming something better and new.) SO COOL!! There really is so much symbolism in everything! I love it! Everything truly does point to God. We do have a God. He is our Father. He does love us. What a GLORIOUS message! Well we should be getting our travel arrangements this week so thats exciting! We peace out on April 1! (Hopefully haha april fools- you never know). Tonight there is supposedly someone super big coming to speak to us! I am thinking Pres. Eyring but we will see! And Easter is suppose to be extremely special too. thats what they keep saying. I am hoping for Pres. Monson that day! I will keep you posted! I love you all so much and miss you but I am so grateful to be a humble servant of the Lord and a Disciple of Jesus Christ right now. Keep on keeping strong! Bonne Journee!

Love, Soeur Finneran

Mission Update #3

Bonjour Mes amies!!!

      Life here at the MTC is great! I heard before I came that the days here go by so slow but the weeks go by so fast. Its very true. We wake up everyday and literally study for a good 14 hours and have the 2 others hours of our day to eat and go to gym. It sounds like its pretty hard but I have actually been really enjoying myself! I have and INCREDIBLE comapanion and such an awesome district.  I leave in a little less than 3 weeks! Crazy right!? Time really has been flying! Even though my French isn't the best right now, I am so excited to get out there and start preaching the gospel to those who do not have it! This work truly is miraculous and is of God.

     This week was very eventful but so much has happened and I have very limited time to write so I won't be able to fit it all in. I guess I will start with some comical stories.  Ok so first, a good friend of mine from work sent me a caramel apple! My 5 others roommates and I (yes there are SIX sisters in a very small room) were so excited to eat it so we had to cut it open that night. All we had was a plastic knife.  So naturally I try to cut it and what do I do? Oh yes cut my hand open. Awesome.  Its not super bad but its a pretty decent size cut right on my left palm.  Everyone got a good laugh out of that one. Another funny story! So for daylight savings everyone loses an hour of sleep.  So the four other roommates we have told Soeur Hafen and I that because of daylight savings that lights out was at 10 pm. Naturally, we believed them haha so we were running around trying to get ready really fast and were all in bed and lights out at 10. We never even thought twice about it BUT they fabricated the whole ordeal! haha we had a good laugh about that. Ok now that I am writing that out its probably really not that funny but humor definitely changes on the mission. Last story.... So we were eating lunch as a district like we normally do and we heard some sisters (4) talk about doing the jello challenge. We watch them walk up and all of them get like 5 bowls of jello and then they sit down and without silverware or hands they just start going at the jello like beastules with their faces.  Literally 10 seconds later...guess who walks in?? Oh yes... The MTC Mission President, President Nally.  He walks over to them and pats one of them on the shoulder and they look up with horror on their faces.  He then says to them, "Now are you Sisters missionaries and representatives of Jesus Christ? Let me go get my wife and lets chat."  Yeah...all I have to say is DONT DO STUPID THINGS! haha I am really glad I was not the one doing the jello challenge.

   This letter isn't as interesting as the others. Sorry. We literally just learn french and the gospel all the time and sometimes everything blends together.  But OH YES!! I forgot to mention how awesome the MTC volleyball is!!! The court that I play on is always the French districts and Tongan districts so it gets way intense but it is seriously sooo fun!  I should run or something but I figured I won't get to play volleyball everyday out in the field like I do here. Seriously I look forward to Jouer Au Volley CHAQUE JOUR! Its the best! :)

    Something in French that I think is really cool...."Investigators" in French is Les amies de L'eglise. That literally translates to Friends of the Church. I just really love that and its a really cool perspective to have when viewing investigators.  My french is coming right along.  Its difficult at times and a bit frustrating when I cant say what I want to but it forces me to humble myself and keep it simple.  Simplicity really is the best way to go and the Spirit always does the rest of the talking when I don't know what to say or even when I don't make sense. Learning a language isn't easy but it has been so humbling and I have really seen God helping me through this.  The gift of tongues is real people. Believe it.

    Last week at devotional Elder Aidukaitis from the seventy spoke to us. It was awesome! He talked about the three degrees of glory and how when we get to the kingdom we end up in, we won't be surprised.  He challenged us to choose now what kingdom we are going to. When you choose what kingdom you want to get to then all other decisions will be easier to make because you know exactly what you need to do to make it to whatever kingdom you choose.  I have chosen the Celestial kingdom and I will work towards that everyday! He also challenged us to right it in our journals in BOLD lettering so that we can remind ourselves what we have chosen.

    The last sunday/day that I will be in the MTC is Easter! Everyone keeps talking about that its going to be a very special day with a very special speaker. I hope its President Monson!!! I will keep you informed! Yeah but that very next Monday our plane leaves at 5 ish at night and we should arrive to Paris at 11 am ish the next day! And get this!! First of all they put us on a one way flight there and also there will be THIRTY missionaries going to Paris that very same day! and another twenty to Lyon that same day! This work is truly going forth and I am so grateful I get to be a part of it! And it literallly is half and half with sisters and elders now.  On sunday for RS there were over 1000 sisters in attendance.  Thats a lot of missionaries. I love it here! I love this work! I love my God! I love you all and pray for you often! Write to me if you can! I love to hear whats happening and I promise I will write back!

Beaucoup D'amour,  Soeur Finneran 

Mission Update #2

BONJOUR!!! :) This past week has absolutely flown by! I can hardly believe it is P-day again! Last week on Tuesday night Elder Ballard came and spoke to us. It was incredible! He talked alot about missionary work and being worthy for the call and also that we already know enough.  He was saying that we don't need to stress ourselves out because we aren't perfect. It was just what I needed to hear. :) 

     On Wednesday half of our district went to San Francisco to get their visas for France while the other half stayed.  It was really hard to not have them there.  They really have become family and we are so much more productive when we are all together working hard.  But on Thursday I got to go to San Francisco with the other half of my district. It was awesome! but we were all super tired! We had to wake up at 4 am and leave at 5 am. Our flight left at 7:30 ish.  The plane ride there I sat next to one of the missionaries but that was good because I got a nap in.  When we arrived in San Francisco we went straight to the consulate.  We were seriously only there for about 30 minutes and then we left. It was super easy! So we had the rest of the time to do what we pleased! We had four hours about.  We first went over to Pier 39 and went and ate at a pizza place.  It was delicous and much needed! None of us had eaten before then. and it was about 1 pm.  Then we walked around and placed a few pass along cards there.  Then we went to the Golden gate bridge but it was too foggy to see haha. but we placed more pass along cards there and talked to a few people about the gospel.  The asians are hard to get through too. They don't really believe in God or Jesus Christ.  I am glad that most of France is Christian.  Then we went to Ghiradelli square and had ice cream! Our waiter loved us so I gave him a pass along card and he said he would look into it! I hope he does! He did try to hug me though as we left and I kind of just awkwardly scooted away very fast.  haha the rest of the missionaries got a kick out of that one.  On the way home I sat next to a man who was not LDS! I was SOOO EXCITED!!!! Momentary pause... I have never been more grateful in my life than I am right now to be able to pray, testify and preach/teach in the English language.  I am really glad I had this opportunity to go to San Francisco even though it was just for a day.  Now I didn't commit him to baptism but we had a wonderful talk! At first it was a little awkward because I was alone and he was texting and emailing like crazy when we first sat down on the plane.  But then they made everyone turn everything off and we started talking! He knows a little bit about the church because he recently moved to Utah. I talked to him for a straight hour about his family, his wife,  his son and it was great! There was some time that we didn't talk so I pulled out the first vision in French and was memorizing that and he leaned over and asked me what that said so I was able to share the first vision with him! I seriously was like exploding with the spirit! I don't know if he could tell but I feel like the conversation went just as it was suppose to! we then started talking to him about what his religion believes and I picked out the good things that their church does and was able to share a few things about the LDS church and how we have similarities.  At the end of the plane ride he asked me to pray for his son and i was all YES! YES I WILL!! :) haha it was such an incredible experience! I hope that all made sense! I have to type way fast because we don't have a ton of time!

   This week we found out that our "investigator" for the past two weeks is actually our second teacher! haha that was fun! And on sunday we had the temple president of the provo temple (President Daines) come and speak to us!! seriously it was INCREDIBLE!!! When he was done speaking no one said anything, we all just looked at each other in shock because of how amazing it was! He spoke on temple covenants. I will share a few things.  He said that when we receive our own endowment "we have more power now than ever before to HEAR the word of the Lord." I loved that! He also said this, "We are entitled to revelation and blessing because of the covenants we have made in the temple." This reminds me of the mormon message from president uchtdorf about not living beneath your privileges. Go watch that its great! Also watch the mormon message of mountains to climb! I bawl every time! its so good! very upliting! Something else that I feel very impressed to include for some reason is this... he said, "You cannot become involved with pornography and be keeping your temple covenants and the Law of Chastity."  He then went on to tell us a story.  He said that he had some neighbors once who were investigating the church and they finally committed to baptism. they scheduled the baptism for 8 days later.  4 days before the baptism the missionaires who they had come over to help them teach the lessons were found in the grocery store looking at a playboy magazine. The investigators neighbors told them what they saw in the store and as a result of that they decided not to get baptized.  Our actions do not only affect us but everyone around us.  He also said this, " Clear up this problem right now! Do not wait! You can change!"  The last thing I will mention that he said is this," The WOUNDED Christ is the captain of our sould. The hard and painful times will pass!"

      I know that throught the redeeming and enabling power of Jesus Christ that we can be healed and changed! Jesus Christ lives and He will return!!! I know that this gospel is true with all my heart! I am beyond excited to share this message with all others! Jesus Christ is the head of this church. This is His work. I love you all so much! I miss you! I pray for you! Please pray for the missionaries and for those who are needing this gospel in their lives.

Love, Soeur Finneran

Mission Update

FIRST WEEK: Success! I absolutely love the MTC! My companion, Soeur Hafen, is incredible! She is 19 and from American Fork. We work so well together because we both are so dedicated to this work and so dedicated to learn the language. She pushes me to be my best and I am so grateful for her. It's so apparent how aware God is of our lives.  All of her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. Well what has happened this week...hmm oh i know SO MUCH!!!! We got into the MTC they show us our room, drop off our suitcases, then they take us to the classroom-immediate french immersion. We learn the missionary purpose in english and french. We go this meeting and that meeting and learn more french. Finally we get to eat and then back to class to learn more french. Bed. I LOVE bed. The first night was difficult though because I couldn't fall asleep til 1 but every other night I have slept like a baby. I am so tired all the time but I am more happy than I have ever been! The gospel is true! :) I love it! The next we woke up and learned more french and then prepared for our first lesson EN FRANCAIS!! We have been teaching Jamie and it isn't as scary as it sounds because the Gift of Tongues is so real! The spirit filled in all the voids in my language. Ummmm but other than that we basically just learn all the time everyday! Sunday's are a treat because we have a little bit of a break.  We were able to take the sacrament (all in french of course), watch music and the spoken word, relief society, choir, devotional, etc. The food isn't that bad here either. I have already lost at least 3 pounds. Luckily my comp and I encourage each other to eat well which has been awesome. She also loves to run which is great! Our goal is to get to 6 miles by the last week here. We are already at 2! :) We found out yesterday that we will be flying to San Francisco on thursday to take care of our visa stuff. We are all so excited because we might have some time to proselyte! :) We also had to go to the health clinic yesterday... that was interesting... haha we had to poop in a cup to give a stool sample.  Supposedly Belgigue needs to make sure we don't have any diseases. My district is incredible!!! We have 4 elders and 6 sisters.  Soeur Hafen and I i talked about a little alread.  Love her to death! Soeur Johns and Soeur Judd- Soeur Judd is very good at french and they both bring such a sweet spirit! Soeur Johns is from texas and Sour Judd is from utah. Elder Jensen and Elder Ireland are hilarious. Elder Jensen is from Utah and Elder Ireland is from Canada. Elder Jensen is always very good at keeping us on track. His grandpa is Jay E. Jensen in the 70. Soeur Henson and Soeur Holmes are in our room and they are the greatest! Soeur Holmes is super open and SOO funny! and Soeur Henson got here late and she's never taken french but she is picking it up sooo fast! Elder Olsen is from Kaysville too! He is really funny and light spirited and Elder Toledo is also from Utah. He thought he was going spanish speaking strictly but when he got here they told him he is going to learn french too and stay 6 weeks. He's picking it up fast also! They are all so funny though and so spiritual at the same time! I love this place! it really is like efy 24/7 times ten! times up but I love you all! Bon chance!
Love soeur Finneran.
ps. sorry if i don't get pictures on here often. mtc is crazy ALL THE TIME! and they don't really have a way to download pics!

Adieu!

Hi all! I am heading out to the MTC on Wednesday but I wanted to wish you all a goodbye! My mom will be putting all my emails on this blog if you would like to follow me on my mission!  Thank you for all your support and love! Good luck with all of life's endeavors!
Love, Soeur Finneran
MTC Address:
     Sister Anna Ruth Finneran
     MTC Mailbox #229
     FRA-PAR 0402
     2005 N 900 E
     Provo, UT 84604-1793
France Address:
     Soeur Anna Finneran
     France Paris Mission
     23, Rue Du Onze Novembre
     78110 Le Vesinet
     FRANCE